Greyhound

The Greyhound is famous for its speed and agility and as further proof of this, racing circuits features them for competitions and companies like the Greyhound Bus uses the breed to define their service. Being the fastest dog in the world, the Greyhound is indeed quick enough in capturing the hearts of many families around the world. Whence years ago the breed is merely a racer, today it is a well-loved family pet of many households around the world.

The Greyhound possesses long, powerful legs, deep chest, a flexible spine and slim body and these allow it to maneuver at excessive speed as fast as 70 kilometers an hour. Moreover, this breed’s muscular build is lightweight, its heart is large and its fast-twitch muscle is of high levels that’s why it is capable of stretching its gallop to longer strides. The Greyhound’s gallop is called the “double suspension rotary gallop” wherein all four feet of the dog are lifted from the ground in two movements, contraction and extension, all in one full stride.

The thin frame of the breed is a manifestation that they lack in body fat therefore they are likely get affected by extreme temperatures easily. In view of this, it is highly recommended that they be sheltered indoors. The Greyhound of today is not merely limited to racing and course games anymore but is pitted in dog shows and dog sports as well.

Additionally, just because the Greyhound is a fast and energetic runner, it does not mean that it is restless, vicious or aggressive. As it is fervent in running inside the tracks, it is oppositely tame and quiet outside of it. The breed will run if being told to but when the instruction is for it to stay put, it does so without any resistance especially when it is inside the home.

Despite being a natural athletic and fast breed, the Greyhound is never described as energetic. It doesnt have to run everyday and does not have an impulse to do so without reason and in fact, just like any other ordinary breeds, the Greyhound is satiated physically and mentally through daily 20 or 30 minute walks or runs. Because of these surprising characteristics of the breed, people have tagged them as the “Forty-five mile per hour couch potatoes.”

However, just because the Greyhound does not want to run amok outside of the race track does not mean it shouldn’t be encouraged to run once in a while. It is still the breed’s basic instinct to run and so deprivation of this nature will cause it to be aggressive and restless. To help it release its running energy, the Greyhound should be encouraged to run and release energy or else it will become destructive inside the home.

Naturally sweet and gentle, the Greyhound makes a devoted, obedient and loyal companion. In fact, whatever the master tells it to do, it does biddably and whenever the master goes, it is there acting sweetly devoted. The Greyhound is also very friendly and accepting to other people and therefore, it is suitable for an apartment or suburban kind of life.

Generally, there are 30 accepted colors of the Greyhound and these are: fawn, black, white, brindle, red and blue and some other combination of these colors. Its coat is also single-coated, minimal shedder and very short. Its ancestor is said to be the Arabian Sloughi brought to England by traders in 900 AD.

James Gibson is the author of many Greyhound dog articles and is a Greyhound breeder for years. Check out his website today and access some of his articles for free!